1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector which is mounted to a printed circuit board using Surface Mount Technology (SMT).
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable electronic devices are finding more and more applications in human livings with rapid developments of the science and technology nowadays. A portable electronic device needs to get smaller and smaller on one hand for portability and to incorporate as many electronic components therein as possible on the other hand for functioning. Thus, electronic components accommodated in the portable electronic device and electrical connectors accommodated in the portable electronic device to connect peripheral electronic components, which are not put in the portable electronic device, to the portable electronic device are all made as small as possible.
Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectors are often used to connect peripheral electronic components, such as Hard Disk Drive and CD ROM, to portable electronic devices. A conventional USB connector 7 as is shown in FIG. 7 comprises an insulative housing 5, a plurality of electrical contacts 6 and a conductive shield 8 enclosing the insulative housing 5. The insulative housing 5 defines a plurality of passageways 51 extending substantially therethrough in a vertical array along a height of the insulative housing 5 and a plurality of channels 52 defined in a rear bottom edge thereof in a horizontal array along a transverse direction of the insulative housing 5. The channels 52 correspond in number to the passageways 51. The electrical contacts 6 each comprise a fixing portion 62, a contacting portion 61 extending forwardly from the fixing portion 62, a transitional portion 63 extending rearwardly from the fixing portion 62 and a mounting portion 64 depending downwardly from the transitional portion 63. The contacting portions 61 are received in the passageways 51, respectively, and the fixing portions 62 are retained in the insulative housing 5. Each mounting portion 64 extends downwardly through a corresponding channel 52 to be inserted through holes defined in a printed circuit board (not shown), thereby mounting the electrical connector 7 to the printed circuit board using Through Hole Technology (THT).
Since THT requires that the mounting portions 64 of the electrical contacts 6 be inserted into the printed circuit board from a face of the printed circuit board, the channels 52 should be arranged below the passageways 51 and the passageways 51 and the channels 52 of the insulative housing 5 should all be located at least above the face of the printed circuit board, which means that a total height of the electrical connector 7 above the face of the printed circuit board could not be effectively reduced. As a result of that, the electrical connector 7 cannot be used in applications where space is very limited and the height of an electrical connector above a printed circuit board is critical.
Therefore, an improved electrical connector is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.